This was the movie in which subliminal advertising was first used. For 1 frame, (1/24 of a second), they flashed a picture that said "Buy Coke, Eat Popcorn". Movie theaters reported an increase in sales, but the person who created it wasn't able to repeat it, so many think he was lying.
shareI was a projectionist in Dell City Oklahoma; ran this movie as a second bill "double feature" sometime in 1958-1959. Having read about the "subliminal" ads in it, I ran the whole film through my fingers over a light table at least 10 times (manually rewinding each reel instead of using the power winder).
Never could find such a frame, or any indication that the print I had was cut/spliced anywhere in any reel. And it wasn't a new print, either.
So....maybe there was no such frame, or maybe the print I had was pulled after the controversy. Unlikely. Or...maybe it never existed, and the "subliminal ad" myth was created by someone turning on a slide projector briefly during the last reel of the film? Seen than more than once.
the subliminal ads in the movie were only said to be in a showing in a theatre in Ft. Lee, New Jersey in 1957. It was done for marketing research by James Vicary. Though he claimed that in an increase in popcoarn sales were between 18 and 57 percent higher, he later claimed that it was only a gimmick. So perhaps the clips were never actually there...
Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty
I was a projectionist in a drive-in-theater during the summers of 1957 and 1958. I was asked by management too try an experiment. I took one frame from each reel of each movie (we had double-features), and imprinted words like "thirsty", "coke", "ice cream". It worked!! Management was concerned about the ethics of it all but and said not to go ahead with it full time, but we did try it and according to our sales figures, they increased by a substantial percentage.
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